Ed Speer's Four Wrap Knot

This is a page about hanging hammocks.You may also wish to compare this knot to my Flyfisher's improved version.

To tie this knot, the hammock must be equipped with webbing instead of rope. Each end needs between 12 and 15 feet of webbing. The method is described in Ed Speer's book.

First stage of the knot is to pass the webbing around a tree (best when the diameter is about 4 inches) and loop around the strap that goes to the hammock. In these photos, the strap on the right that exits the picture at the bottom right corner is the cord that goes to the hammock.

Next, the webbing is pulled around the tree, looped around the support cord, and taken back around the tree again. This completes the second "wrap".

This picture shows the 4th wrap around the tree.



Finally, the webbing is brought around the back of the tree a final time. The webbing is tucked under the previous wraps so that as weight is applied to the hammock, the free end will be caught between the tree trunk and the previous wraps.
It is a very simple knot to tie and untie. It is also surprisingly strong. With some slick barked trees, the web has occasionally slipped on me.